Trip starts upon your arrival at the Cusco Airport. All international flights route through Lima. Depending on your flight schedule, you may need to overnight in Lima the night before your arrival in Cusco. A hotel in Lima can be added upon request.

Trip End

Trip ends at the Cusco Airport in time for you to catch your flights home, or continue on to the next part of your adventure.

Trip Segment or Complete Package?

This trip is a complete packaged mountain biking trip in Cusco and the Sacred Valley. A day in Machu Picchu is not included but can be added upon request. Depending on your flights, you may need to spend the night in Lima and we can help you arrange these services. We can also help you add to your journey with trips to the Amazon, Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, or the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.

The Single Track Heaven Downhill Mountain Biking trip is the definitive “Best of Peru” biking holiday in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Cusco, and southern Peru. While the Incas may never have managed to invent the wheel, they did create the “single track” but probably didn’t quite understood what it would be used for some 500 years later. After nearly 20 years of messing around on mountain bikes in Peru, we believe we have finally come up with probably one of the greatest mountain bike holidays ever, combining some of the best cross country and downhill single track rides on the planet, plus a chance to see the “real” Peru, way off the beaten “gringo trail.”

TRIP DESCRIPTION

Using hotels in the Sacred Valley as your base (yes, no camping!), you can relax in the gardens, enjoy delicious locally produced meals and explore by bike rarely visited ruins, experience colorful local markets plus a chance to visit Machu Picchu — the fabled Lost City of the Incas — and enjoy Cusco, voted by Wanderlust readers as the number-one travelers’ city in the world and whose fine dining and eclectic nightlife perfectly complement the perfect biking holiday.

The riding gives us a mix of dirt roads, donkey paths, mind-blowing single tracks (largely downhill or flat) and a chance to hone your step jumping on original Inca trails. We’ll also take in the world-class Mega-Avalanche Downhill course, a true wilderness ride to Huchuy Quosqo, the classic Maras to Moray saltpan ride and the very best of local single track in Cusco. There is something for everyone to enjoy and daily rides will be tailored to the individual skills of the group.

LOCAL OPERATOR: AMAZONAS EXPLORER

For more than three decades Amazonas Explorer has led high-quality trips and alternative adventures throughout South America. Based in Cusco, its professionally trained guides, cooks and support crew bring their passion and skills to the travelers they serve and, in turn, build rewarding careers for themselves. This talented staff of local experts is focused on providing you with safe and comfortable adventures, all centered on making your holiday as memorable as possible.

On arrival in Cusco airport please proceed to the baggage hall. At the exit to the building your transfer guide, will be waiting for you with a sign at the barrier outside the arrivals gate. Your guide will then escort you on the seventy minute journey to the Sacred Valley and your hotel for the night.

Overnight in Urubamba: Villa Urubamba or similar
Meals Included: –
DAY 2: Best One Day Ride in Peru: Chinchero – Moray Ruins – Maras – Saltpans – Urubamba River

The Footprints Guide to Peru describes your first ride as “One of the finest one-day rides in Peru,” and it certainly is a classic. Starting near Chinchero at 3,600 meters, you enjoy a variety of undulating dirt trails with spectacular views along the Sacred Valley of the Incas and the white peaks of mount Veronica, Pitusiray and Chicon. You arrive at the rarely visited circular Inca ruins of Moray in time for visit and an explanation of this weird and wonderful site and enjoy a delicious picnic lunch.

This afternoon you join a truly fantastic donkey trail down to the colonial village of Maras, and from there descend a divine single track to the “out of this world” Salt pans. A final zigzagging single track brings you to the Urubamba River and back to your hotel in time to enjoy a hot shower, sundowners on the balcony and dinner either at the hotel or a restaurant of your choice.

Now well-acclimatized, riders will drive high into the Andes to just over 4,000 meters for two of the world’s best-kept mountain-biking secrets. The single-track down to Ampares starts rough but soon turns into one of the most beautiful 16-kilometer trails ever – it’s as if someone has come along and swept away the rocks leaving a super-smooth path, allowing you to whoop and swoop past local villages, llamas and alpacas down to the small village of Amparaes in time for lunch.

Afterwards you’ll climb back up to 4,200 meters for another truly amazing single-track. This time, you follow an ancient Inca trail complete with original Inca stairways and Inca tombs in an incredibly beautiful canyon, before joining the road to Calca with some wacky short cuts for the more adventurous. You arrive in Calca Plaza de Armas in time for a quick beer before returning to your hotel for the night.

When the drive to the start of the ride is almost as extreme as the ride itself, you know you are in for a good day out! This is one of our long-time favorites and a true wilderness biking adventure, high in the Andes. After a drive to 4,000 meters, you prepare to leave behind the vehicle for the entire day, stocking up on snacks and spares and then taking off on an Inca trail that winds its way up to an Inca ceremonial platform at nearly 4,200 meters. From here, it’s nearly all downhill or cross-country as you discover Inca sites and charming Andean hamlets – you even cross an Inca hanging bridge before a short portage through an unrideable but truly gorgeous canyon. You emerge at a viewpoint high above the Sacred Valley before you cycle along well-preserved Inca terraces and into the impressive Inca ruins of Huchuy Quosqo, thought to have been a royal palace.

For those who need more adrenaline you still have another 800-meter descent to the Sacred Valley by way of a delightful dirt trail (with the odd bit of walking), all the way back to Calca. Somewhere along the way you’ll have lunch. Tonight, you relocate to a small hotel in Ollantaytambo where you can walk the plaza – if you are still able to walk, that is.

While body armor is not essential for any of this trip, if you’ve got it today might just be the day to wear it and not take it off at all! After the two rides today you’ll be asking yourself whether this is a really commercial trip, because you’ve just experienced two of the best single-track downhills in the Sacred Valley, if not the whole of Peru. From the delightful market town of Chinchero you traverse a vast set of Inca terraces on a perfectly restored and wide royal Inca trail.

A series of rideable (or walkable) steps takes you down through a Eucalyptus forest and a spectacular viewpoint for more technical single-track back down to the small village of Huayllabamba – the record down is about 45 minutes but you’ve got all morning (and usually need it!).

After a short drive back up the hill to the highest point in the area, Cerro Sacro, we’ll have lunch surrounded by stunning views, before starting another truly classic trail. This super smooth descent swoops us back down to Urubamba and there is a variety of routes to choose from, from the sublime to the extremely challenging. The Santissimo downhill course is an option if you want to try one of the best race courses in Peru, complete with huge jumps (or chicken ways for the sane) At the bottom it’s a quick ride back to the hotel, and for those with the energy, a local artisan market, bar and highly recommended spa are nearby.

The ‘Abra Malaga’ Bike ride takes us from over 4,400m to 2,800m – That’s 1,600m of pure descent over approximately twenty kilometres. The trail is a beautiful mix of fast road and technical single track, all the time surrounded by fantastic Andean scenery. This is truly “a descent of a lifetime” and it is no wonder it was chosen as the site of the internationally famous, annual downhill race: The Inca Avalanche Course.

Every March two hundred plus riders, incorporating everyone from pro teams to local ‘weekend warriors’, race this unbelievable spectacle at the same time – a true avalanche of bikes and riders. To give you an idea, the average World cup downhill course is 3- 4 minutes long. This Peruvian Inca Avalanche course is won in about twenty-five minutes, with riders being known to take easily twice that long. It is seriously world class and there is no course quite like it. For bikers it is a dream ride that just has to be done. For non off-roaders, the descent on the road is also truly breathtaking, surrounded by spectacular Andean scenery.

After picking you up from your hotel, we drive to the town of Ollantaytambo for a quick leg stretch before heading up the Abra Malaga. This is the same route taken by the fleeing Incas as they escaped from the Spanish several hundred years ago. At 4,400m we will unload our gear, familiarize you with your bike, kit up (helmets and gloves obligatory, body armor optional) and start the descent by way of a mix of single tracks and the odd road section. Our support vehicle will meet us at pre-arranged locations to ensure we are safe and all the bikes will be checked.

On the first descent we’ll take it slowly, with time to inspect the individual sections. Our expert guides (they have been placed in the top five in their class the last few years running) will show you their best lines and a few sneaky tricks to ensure you get the best out of the ride. There are a couple of optional jumps which we can stop, inspect and do several times, or alternatively there’s a great route which bypasses them. We’ll meet the vehicle at the end for a delicious picnic lunch and then head back up to the top to do it all again, hopefully this time a little faster and with less stops. However, our priority at all times is ensuring that you are within your comfort zone and riding safely. Adrenaline depleted, we head back to our hotel to arrive late afternoon.

There is more to Peru than awesome single track; so screaming or kicking we are going to take you to this place called Machu Picchu – sure you’ve heard of it? It’s a really cool place steeped in history, the train journey there is a fun experience and although there’ll be a few tourists here, the view is truly amazing! Once here, we’ll include a fully guided tour, before whisking you back to Cuzco for a great night out.

Cuzco by night is probably more extreme than any single track we’ve done so far so prepare yourself for a whole lot of fun. Whether it’s fine dining, pubs galore, salsa dancing or the best of 80’s disco kitsch Cuzco has it all and doesn’t close until it gets light.

Overnight in Cusco: Hotel Quinta San Blas or similar
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

DAY 8: Save the Best For Last: Cusco Single Track

By now you’ll be fully acclimatized and totally sensitized to the delights of Peruvian single-track, so we’ve saved the best for last. The hills that surround Cusco is the local playground and boy have we got a treat for you. Dubbed “Three Downhills in Three hours,” you start with “Salcantay,” a 750-meter descent along sweet single-track, Inca ruins, eucalyptus forest, ending in Cusco. This first ride could be a contestant for best ride of the trip, and we still have two more to go.

Back up the hill, you follow an ancient Inca trail past more Inca ruins and staring day-tripper tourists as you join “Antisuyo,” the recently restored Inca trail to the jungle with steps set far enough apart to ride all the way down to San Blas and the Plaza de Armas of Cusco. If you haven’t learned how to step jump by now, you will have learned by the end of this ride!

And there’s more, with a choice of rides from Yuncaypata including a local’s favorite downhill, the “Red Bull course” (pretty steep but doable) and the “Birthday route” on sweet single-track along Incas ruins with a few steps, if you want. With your biking having come to a great end, it’s time for a shower and a chance to experience the culinary delights of Cusco (guinea pig is a local specialty!) and, for those who dare, the eclectic nightlife where you can salsa till dawn if you’ve got the energy.

Overnight in Cusco: Hotel Quinta San Blas or similar
Meals Included: Breakfast

DAY 9: Free Morning and Depart Cusco

Depending on your flight time, but hopefully not too early, we’ll pick you up and take you back to the airport for the one hour flight back to Lima. If there’s time you can store your baggage and head downtown for some of the best seafood in the world, a bit of culture and maybe a bit of shopping too.

Meals Included: Breakfast

Please Note – This itinerary is a guide to our Peru trip, with the actual events of each day varying depending on progress of the group. It is important to note that it may be subject to change in relation to trail, road and weather conditions etc. We always do our best to stick to this itinerary but please be aware that we can’t guarantee to follow this schedule exactly. Very occasionally events that are out of our control mean we have to make some changes, but we’ll ensure you still have a great time!

travel logistics

Getting To and From the Trip:

You will need to arrive in Cusco on Day 1 of this trip. You can arrive at any time this day, by flight, train, or bus. You will be met by your guide upon your arrival, and transferred to your hotel in Cusco.

All international flights to Cusco must route through Lima. Most likely, you will need to overnight in Lima the night before you fly to Cusco. We can help you arrange a hotel and transfer services upon your request.

At the end of this trip on Day 9, you will be transferred to the Cusco Airport, train station, or bus terminal in time for your departure. We can also help you add to your journey with trips to the Amazon, Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, or any other destination in South America.

We do not sell international or domestic Peru airfare but partner with a flight specialty company, Exito Travel, who can arrange all of your flights for you, simplifying the process of this part of your trip.

Trip Start: Trip starts upon your arrival at the Cusco Airport. All international flights route through Lima. Depending on your flight schedule, you may need to overnight in Lima the night before your arrival in Cusco. A hotel in Lima can be added upon request.

Trip End: Trip ends at the Cusco Airport in time for you to catch your flights home, or continue on to the next part of your adventure.

Complete Your Trip

This trip is a complete package, starting and ending in the Cusco Airport. International and domestic Peru flights are not included, but can be booked through our travel partner Exito Travel. Depending on your flight schedule, you may need to overnight in Lima. We can help you arrange a hotel and transfer services if this is necessary.

We can also help you add to your journey with trips to the Amazon, Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, or any other destination in South America.